Barry Blinderman curator at University Galleries lecture on the New York City Art Arra of the late 70's and 80's.  Illinois State University Center for the Visual Arts room 133, 18 October 2016 1700 hrs.
     Barry attended graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania and was the Director of Semaphore Gallery in Soho, New York the city's visual arts district.  Barry began his lecture by setting a backdrop of who his influences were. One of which was  Leo Steinberg who wrote the book “Other Criteria”. Barry spoke of  how Leo had such a profound impact on his  life as a curator.

     Barry lectured on how life was in New York during the late 70’s early 80’s with regards to the social,economic and geographic aspects of the times referencing the East Village.  He quoted a headline from the New York Times that read “Ford Says No To New York.” meaning president Ford was denying aid to the city New York due to its economic deprivation.  Some of the photos that we viewed showed the city in a light reminiscent to that of the early migration of European immigrants to the US during and after the reconstruction period. 

Barry Blinderman  lecturer

 

     Barry, in 1981 curated a show, The Anxious Figure, which reflected figurations by Keith Haring, Robert Longo, John Ahearn, Jedd Garet and Ed  Paschke.  In his lecture he spoke of the art scene in New York City during what I perceived as a rather aggressive artistic period for art.  I use the term aggressive in the context of how the artists would display their work and have exhibitions were done. A lot of the artwork was created in the streets, on abandoned buildings, galleries and nightclubs just everywhere.  I admired how artists would just wire up a building from an external source with electricity and exhibit.  In my visits to New York I can remember parties or as we called them sets being held in such a manner in boroughs like the Bronx and Brooklyn.  

Time Square Show advertisement

     Barry spoke of the collaborative efforts of the street and formally trained artists from that era as well. He mentioned the Time Square Show which featured personalities such as David Hammons, John Ahearn, and Diego Cortez aka Jim Curtis, just to name a few. It’s intriguing how each style influenced one another's artistic perspective. It is my opinion that the Times Square Show established a template for collaboration and the merging of two styles while addressing a larger audience that was the downtown art scene of New York during this period in the 1980's.  It is the Time Square Show that really struck a chord with me exhibiting different genres of art including the Hip-Hop scene from the Bronx with which I embraced as my time as a DJ during this era.  

        This period of the New York art scene  happened to be my military years so I wasn’t able to be emerged in art to its fullest capacity . Though I was a artist when I went into the military I was not one while I was in the service.  My mentality at that time was consumed with learning the art of how to kill or the art of war.  I could barely focus on my skills as a DJ. I was able to appreciate the Break dancers or B-Boys and the artful way the Dj's would manipulate the music by using the technique of "scratching." In a since I guess I was loosely involved with the art culture of  New York.  However, I did take a few trips to New York to buy the latest rap album for my DJ-ing.  On my visits I would be awe struck by the graffiti on the walls of buildings, trains and in the subway tunnels. It impressed me how the people of the streets were able to use whatever means they could to express their artistic points of view.  It is my only regret that I was not attuned the New York art world at such a vibrant time. It would have been great to know such an artist as Jean Michel Basquiat and to view his work in person and to kick it with Fab 5 Freddie while he was painting burners on the walls and subway cars.
     It was an honor and a pleasure to hear first-hand from Barry Blinderman, an actual player in the New York City art world.  His testimony of  this period in time really resonated in my psyche' the total impacted the New York City art scene had on the world.